Say hello to my little friends…
Can I quote a movie I’ve never seen?  K.  Thanks!  😉

I’ve been cake pop-ing the days away lately and growing quite attached to these seven little guys.

Who could resist something so small, chocolaty and festive?  Not I…  Not I.

I must give credit where credit is due to the lovely Bakerella!  She is a genius I say, genius!
Here’s a link to her Halloween cast of characters that served as my inspiration.
I was pretty stoked to be made a “pop star“ on her site for the second time.  It’s like they say about getting multiple academy awards, “It is just as thrilling the second time around.” {cry, cry, cry}
Okay, I’m being over dramatic, but life is more fun(ny) that way.

Cake pops are nothing new and there’s about a million tutorials and books on how to do them.  But I wanted to just tell you a few hints about how I made these.  I will skip the beginning part about making the cake balls since Bakerella explains that so well.

I’ve already told you about my candy eyeball hoarding.  I explained how simple they are to make in a somewhat simple guest post.  Go check it out.  I already had a big bag of eyes ready to make these little monsters come to life!

I have developed a serious crush on Dracula.  With that receding hairline he is simply irresistible!

Frankie is down with his full head of hair but he seems to be almost flaunting it.
He has a scar to keep him humble though.

Are they horns or ears?  Does it matter?  He is darling.

Well, as you can see, I’ve spent too much time with these things as I am now talking as if they are real people.  I will try to do a reality check and start talking about them as if they are food.  Only food.

Pumpkins were easy.  I needed easy at this point.  My house was thrashed by the time I got to these.
My kids bring food into the toy room if I’m not looking.

Yep, they are getting even easier.  I needed to tidy up just enough to give the illusion to my husband that I have it all together.  Yes honey, I can totally care for the kids and the house AND spend hours doting over tiny pieces of cake.  {ahem}

Just one more won’t hurt.  It involves 3 chocolates.  I could always just not sleep.  Hehe!

So before the blissful marathon of cake pops came the adventures in woodworking.

You see, I envisioned a place where my little guys could stand up straight and secure.  Something more solid than styrofoam.  I knew it would be so simple (this word is used very loosely) to make some out of 2 by 6 boards.  My hubs chopped them all up and I measured the holes 2 inches apart.  He advised that the only way the holes would be perfectly straight is if I used a drill press.  Drilling them by hand would inevitably leave you vulnerable to human error.  So I got my hands on a drill press.  Thanks friend!

After I drilled, I finally used that belt sander my dad gave my for my birthday.  I wasn’t excited about storing it, but it did make fast work of sanding these babies.  Thanks dad!

I loved that I was able to make different sized stands that hold the exact number of cake pops that I wanted.  Custom deluxe!  I’m pretty much obsessed with these cake pop stands and the christmas ones are under way.  I’m even thinking I should give a couple away when we hit 1000 fb peeps.  Good idea?

And you know my policy that cellophane, tags and ribbon make everything better.
Pretty fun gift if you ask me!

I was pretty stoked about the finished product.  Sometimes ideas don’t turn out like I had planned.
But sometimes, this time, they did!  It was all worth it!

p.s.  As I scan this post, I’m noticing that it is very apparent I am running low on sleep.
p.s.s.  If you have sent me an email/fb message, I’m really trying to catch up…Sorry!
p.s.s.s.  I got bangs.  Nothing to do with this post, I just thought you should know.